5th Amendment: Rights of the Accused, Due Process of the Law, and Eminent Domain
Much like the first amendment, the fifth amandment is made up of smaller parts regarding the jury and the arrest of a suspect. The follwing sections are discussed in the fifth amendment.
The Grand Jury
The first part of the fifth amendment talks about how a jury is summoned. To understand this, you must understand the Grand Jury. The grand jury is a jury that decides if a trial should be held. They look at all the evidence and then decide if a person should be charged with a crime. If they decide there is enough evidence, then they will issue an indictment and a regular trial will be held. The grand jury is only used in cases where the punishment for the crime is severe such as life in prison or the death sentence. Double Jeopardy The next section protects the person from being accused for the same crime more than once. This is called double jeopardy. However there are variations of this section. A person who is sent to jury for murdering Victim A and is found guilty and imprissoned, they cannot be accused and sent to jail again for murdering Victim A since they have already been accused of that crime. Anyhow, if the same person is accused of murdering Victim B when they were accused of murdering Victim A, those are two different crimes so the person can be sent to jury and sent to jail again. Taking the Fifth Perhaps the most famous part of the Fifth Amendment is the right to not testify against yourself during a trial. This is often called "taking the fifth." The government must present witnesses and evidence to prove the crime and cannot force someone to testify against themselves. Miranda Warning You've probably heard the police on TV say something like "you have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law" when they arrest someone. This statement is called the Miranda Warning. Police are required to tell people this before they question them as part of the Fifth Amendment. It reminds citizens that they don't have to testify against themselves. Due Process The amendment also states that a person has a right to "due process of law." Due process means that any citizen charged with a crime will be given a fair trial that follows a defined procedure through the judicial system. Eminent Domain The last section says that the government can't take a person's private property without paying them a fair price for it. This is called eminent domain. The government can take your property for public use, but they have to pay you a fair price for it. However in recent cases, the government will not pay full price for a house that costs $400,000. They will probably only pay around half.
